The camera operator kept spraying the camera around so it was difficult to see anything.

Continually showing Dimitri only showed that it is a pain if you drop your kite in light winds. It did not show what was happening before the kite dropped. It is a pathetic attempt to make him look bad. I suspect the Cabrinha would look just as lame if it fell in the water.

I have a Sector 60 and it is more than fun enough in light wind. I get heaps of riding in ridiculously light winds with my 13m Xbow. I might consider an 18m kite in the future, but not right now. I have more than enough gear littering my garage. The raceboard guys go upwind better but I carve better gybes and have a heap of fun on waves.

Pure race boards are kind of fun but logistically they are a nightmare. Expensive, fragile, bulky, ridiculously long fins.

Bille wrote:...

Go over to the Board Builders ....

I have built my share of boards. It was fun to do and satisfying. At the moment I am not inclined to expose myself to expoxy dust and chemical fumes. I would rather leave that to the professionals with the experience and equipment to deal with all that crap.

I hope that the commercial builders are using some of the high prices of their boards to provide a decent working environment in their Asian factories.

The fact that either of these kites are stable in the air when there is virtually no wind on the ground is most probably due to a phenomenon of doming also referred to as decoupling.

When the water is cold and a pressure system brings in really warm air. The cooler dense air tends to stay stuck to the water while the warm air blows over top. (sorry there is a MUCH better meteorlogical explanation to this but I just want to say WHAT happens not WHY)

Typically these days are forecasted to be heavy winds yet you show up to the beach and it's dead. It is always sunny (like in the video) it is most prevalent in locations where the winds are frontal based (like florida or great lakes) when the water temp is cold (like spring) and the air temp is significantly warmer. Doming would also explain why cab would host a demo day and why so many people showed up to it (forecasted heavy and wasn't) and why Dimitri can't relaunch the kite. (no wind down low)

Anyone can easily fly a kite in these conditions It takes a running launch to get it off the ground and as long as they keep the kite high it's got plenty of power to stay up eventhough there isn't a puff of air on the ground. (like in this video) Drop it and you're F'd though. (like dimitri in this video)

When doming with some line extensions, I can stay upwind. throw jumps and be well powered with a ground level wind meter reading of ZERO and glassy water. I was gunna take an "EPIC" video of my 5 year old 12m C kite next time I hit these conditions in order to tout it's "totally awesome" light wind capabilities and preach some BS how bridled one pump kites suck due to a combination of "bridle drag" and "hose drag"....... just to stir things up here.

Nice to see the cab rider throw the kite up and grab a proper board to show how those conditions are supposed to be done...Next time D, throw up the kite on about 40 m of line.....you'd have kicked the cabs ass out there on a twin tip and could've touted your lightwind board as being better than a raceboard.....Maybe next time.....

For reference when its doming .I've gone blowing by a guy my size that was riding a 190 x 70 raceboard that was being pulled by a flysurfer 21m. I did it using my 12m C kite on 15m extensions, and a small 140x40 twin tip .....he spent like 5 grand on "the ultimate" lightwind kit, I spent about 20 bucks converting old lines that I'd broken into extensions.....Sometimes the gear makes all the difference.